Five Came Back is a three-part documentary series (inspired by Mark Harris' 2014 book) about five directors who left their Hollywood gigs to document World War II.
At the time, Nazis produced an incredible system of propaganda made of new technology and cinema . The use of film and propaganda was planned by the National Socialist German Workers Party as early as 1930 and created the first film department. Nazis created a film agenda to control and distract the population and keep everyone in "good spirits".
This docuseries explores five major directors- Frank Capra, John Ford, John Huston, George Stevens, and William Wyler. They dressed in US Army uniforms and used their filmmaking skills to create propaganda films for the government. They wanted to tell the stories of the greatest heroes and the greatest villains on the world stage and their experiences. These five directors knew that people needed to see this footage involving Hollywood, the war, and veteran stories. Steven Spielberg narrates about William Wyler, Paul Greengrass talking about John Ford, Guillermo del Toro about Frank Capra and Francis Ford Coppola and Lawrence Kasdan sharing about John Huston and George Stevens. I thought this was a very creative way to reproduce Mark Harris' book because these directors bring their own perspective of what their predecessors accomplished. It's great how Spielberg and the other narrators interpret the Five's cinematography and style of filmmaking before the war and how they incorporate their techniques into their documenting.
